Shalla’s Hat Trick Powers Fuel to Win Over Americans

INDIANAPOLIS – After an event filled weekend, it was time for the Indy Fuel to get back to business Friday night. The Allen Americans came to town for the first time this season and the first game of three games in four days for the Indy Fuel.

The game started exactly as planned for Indy. The same game plan of putting early pressure on the opposing team worked flawlessly. Indy’s Johnny McInnis got the scoring started just under two minutes into the game, beating Allen’s Jeremy Brodeur over the shoulder.

Josh Shalla doubled the Indy lead, putting home a Zach Miskovic rebound for his first of three goals on the night.

Allen would respond to the two Indy goals with two goals of their own. Olivier Archambault cut the Indy lead in half and Spencer Asuchak scored on a five on three power play to tie the game 2-2 in the second period.

Josh Shalla took the game into his own hands and buried two back-to-back power play goals to give Indy a 4-2 lead. Reed Seckel would pot a goal of his own after Shalla’s two goals, giving Indy a 5-2 lead heading into the locker room.

The third period started slower than normal. The physicality was there but it took until halfway through the final 20 minutes for the scoring to continue. Former Indy Fuel forward Alex Guptill scored for Allen’s third goal of the game but that would be all Étienne Marcoux would allow. Darian Dziurzynski scored a late goal to put the game away for the Fuel.

Takeaways

The line of Darian Dziurzynski-Michael Neal-Josh Shalla was on fire on Friday night, accounting for four of the six goals, including a hat trick from Josh Shalla.

Since returning to the Fuel from Nottingham, Shalla has nine points, 7g, 2a in five games played

The physicality in Friday’s game was very evident. Garrett Clarke dropped the gloves with Colby McAuley 2:45 into the game and the hard hitting and chirping continued from there

The Indy special teams were strong on Friday night. The penalty kill went 5-for-7 while the power play scored on three out of seven chances on Friday

Indy will play three games in the next four days, facing Cincinnati on Saturday, Kalamazoo on Sunday and Fort Wayne on Tuesday. A win in each game would give them six points against three teams above them in the Central Division standings.